The old, well-known parable on wine and wineskins comes to mind when I think about Kari Jobe’s Majestic: Revisited, which I had the honor of helping engineer and mix. “Never put new wine into an old wineskin,” it’s said, because an old wineskin lacks the elasticity to contain an expanding, fermenting wine.
When an artist decides to take an existing album of theirs and revisit it, one of two things can happen. First, the songs can fall apart, spilling forth a waste of time, resources, and creativity. Or, second, a revision can reveal the songs for how timeless they are and for the capacity they have for multiple variations.
Jobe took a hit worship album and made it into a blend of electronic soundscapes and atmosphere. If you know anything about the Christian music industry, you know this makes a statement, because it pushes the limits of the established sense of creativity within the genre.
It paid off when the album peaked at 12 on Billboard Top 200. I think the success of Majestic: Revisited has something to teach us. Don’t allow your sound to be confined by the established limits of creativity within a genre. If you feel an urge to do something different, do it. Artistry consists in more than a reiteration of the same.